Blessed in the mess.
During the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, I felt compelled to share a few prophetic words on the SellerThink YouTube channel. Surprisingly, a few of them were actually watched by a few people on YouTube.
This particular video was released for New Years 2021 and after a year of a divided America like never seen since the battle to end slavery, this video became very real for those it was intended with God providing rushing in like a king leading an army bringing provision, healing, favor, finances, and meeting other needs. Not only for myself, but for those who it was intended for.
It's been an amazing year here at the end of 2021 for many, with God causing really unusual things to occur. For SellerThink on YouTube, we had a strange month at the end of November going into December with over two thousand people suddenly subscribing, and over two and a half million video views within three weeks. Unexpected finances came in, helping make up for the year locked down and the pandemic unemployment that ended back at the end of August.
Projects, connections, opportunities that had been held up, blocked, throttled, hindered and restricted for years, suddenly released.
Then there were a couple of people on YouTube who left comments on the prophetic videos right at the beginning before God began turning things around.
That's the way the enemy works; Satan always comes to try to knock you down, put you off balance, make you anxious, steal your hope and dream, discourage you right before God steps in. In fact, when things start going wrong, people who are bad influences start coming around, my path and plans get sabotaged or attacked, I'm beginning to realize, it's always right before something good that God has been preparing.
When I saw those things beginning to occur at the end of November, I told people who suddenly wanted to visit me, or demanded my time, "Sorry, I'm busy, I'll get back to you later". It was a whim. An assumption, and it turned out more real than I'd realized before. I put one person on the sideline, and another person I hadn't heard of who leaches off people suddenly began trying to pressure me to see them. I told them, "I'm sorry, I am busy through the end of the year, let me get back to you". Then another person suddenly appeared who tried to manipulate me, pressure me, even to the point of coming across a bit like a stalker.
Over and over again through November, this kind of thing kept happening, and I made a conscious decision that I wasn't going to let anyone interfere with my pursuit and hope in God. I'd never done anything like that before, those people were not used to having my set boundaries for them before.
I just kept saying out loud and repeating in my head every time something or someone brought garbage my direction, "I'm going to trust God and do Good", "I'm going to trust God and do Good".
That's when YouTube stepped in and removed a significant amount of revenue from the YouTube channel saying it was due to invalid clicks. That made me angry and upset, unsettled for over a week, the way those people I had put boundaries around would have, except to even a larger way since it involved my finances.
I felt super lousy, it was consuming all of my thoughts worrying about it, and then it dawned on me what was going on. This was a major attack by the enemy, because God has something good coming, big coming, undeserved coming, favor ahead.
Right then I repented, but not the kind of repenting as I've done prior. I kept my prayer short, a few words, "God, sorry for not trusting you".
Then again, I made a conscious decision that I was going to "Trust God and do Good". The money wasn't worth it, I concluded. My trusting God was more valuable than ten thousand dollars, one hundred thousand dollars, all the money I could think of. [That's not how much money YouTube took, just my mind frame at that moment.]
The more I thought about how horrible I felt, how stressed my body had become, how sick I felt, how tired I felt, sitting in a chair all day staring pointlessly without any objective thinking about what YouTube had done, a week earlier, I felt like the money simply wasn't worth it. I can never recover that week and a half. I'd have paid a doctor that amount of money to just to make what I was experiencing to go away.
So I told God, [I had to tell him more than once for several days before it completely broke off of me.] I said God, you gave me the money, and it was your money when YouTube took it away, and as much as it can be nice to have some money, I don't need or want the drama that has been involved with this money. If it belongs to me, then I trust you enough to have it returned to me, if it doesn't belong to me, then its a waste of time dwelling on it anyway.
It took about three days of repeating over and over again telling God, "This money is your money, I can be just as content with no money" for my peace to return. The spirit of oppression lifted off my body, and when I say lifted off my body, that is exactly what I mean. Up until it lifted, I felt weak in my body, I was tired, I felt restless, anxious, unsettled, even colder than normal. When it lifted, all of those things left, were gone, lifted off. Almost like having been in a spiritual mist or cloud.
Of course it wasn't over quite yet, those same people who weeks before I had set some boundaries with, began trying to invade my environment again. I've come to learn, that I have to be in a well place emotionally, physically and spiritually before I interact some people, because their oppression jumps off them on to me.
I was laying in my bed late one day, I hear knocking at the windows and someone yelling my name. I didn't look, I already knew who it was.
I didn't answer or respond, so they went to a family members window and started pounding on their window until they met them at the front door. Then my family member came to see if I was awake, and I just remained still and quite. It's not lying if your remaining silent and not responding. They went back and told them I was asleep.
A few minutes later, the family member came back to me room to "wake me up" and tell me the person wants me to call and go to dinner with them so they can tell me what's been happening. Nope! How many times do you have to tell someone "I won't be available for a few months, I'll get in touch with you later?" Apparently, more than six times.
The enemy is persistent and uses pressure, intimidation, social obligation, manipulation to invade your space and environment right before God brings the break through you've been waiting for.
Like me, you may not recognize it until you create a vacuum around yourself by cutting off those who have historically been used to bring you down by the enemy.
Creating boundaries and locking yourself away, makes it much more difficult for the enemy to disrupt your peace and trust in God. In my case here at the end of 2021, I put up very clear boundaries for those people in my life. When they violated the original boundaries, I made stricter boundaries keeping them at an even greater distance.
I've observed over my life time, perhaps you have also, how the enemy uses the same people over and over. Often they are people from our past, childhood friends, high school buddies, college friends, old church friends, family members, and other people who learned how to work us. The enemy will use whoever is willing to do it's bidding.
When you place yourself under the "wings of the lord", your a lot more difficult to reach.
So when YouTube came and took back the money they had placed into my account, it was like the biggest tease ever. It was like someone promising to give you a brand new car for free, letting you sit behind the wheel to get a feel for ridding it. You day dream of all the places you want to cruise, then in the middle of the night, while it's sitting parked in your driveway, before the papers have been signed, they repossess the car. You had nothing and you were content, then suddenly you had something incredible almost in your hands, only for it to be taken away. Your level of contentment went from level 20 to 0 in a few hours. Feels like a rip off.
Surrendering money to God was a new idea.
Telling God, "hey God, it was cool almost having that money [I never actually physically had it, it was just a number that showed up in my account as an estimated amount] but I was better before I thought it was mine" was challenging. For several days my mind was racing with what I would do with it. Should I put it into the bank as savings, should I buy the motorcycle I'd been dreaming of for twenty years, I had all kinds of thoughts running through my mind, and when the money was pulled back, those thoughts were replaced with new thoughts, about lawsuits, collecting proof, and how to challenge it.
Ironically, a really good illustration of this happened the day I just let go of it all. An armored truck carrying multiple stores and banks holiday money crashed and flipped over on the freeway, breaking open and spilling its contents all over the road. Like a movie, people on the freeway stopped their cars and grabbed as much money as they could. The following day, the police announced on the news they were looking for anyone who took the money that was blowing around in the wind, with intent to arrest and charge them.
I'm not sure what kind of charges they could apply considering the money was all over the freeway. But, the idea of grabbing a half million dollars off the road would be exciting, at least until you learned that if they find you, your going to be arrested and have to give it all back. Hopefully you didn't rush out and buy a new house in cash. Of course the appropriate thing would have been to take it to the police department, or keep on driving.
So, the enemy was doing everything possible to get me unsettled and out of my peace, including bringing several people to YouTube to comment on the 2021 prophetic new years video saying it was bogus. Replying to such people is not my favorite thing to do.
I'd been an ultra rigid, legalistic Christian growing up. I know how they think, i'd engaged in years of arguments and debates. I knew their irrational rational. But, generally I will reply, if for no other reason than to hope that perhaps maybe I can point them in a helpful direction.
What I wasn't expecting, was after around twenty back and forth replies with the most recent person, I would discover they were neither a Christian, nor religious at all.
They were also not very well equipped for debate compared most atheists I've known. For some reason this person was looking for prophetic words, or maybe YouTube referred him to the video, a lot of people see my videos because YouTube suggested them. I do not know how they got there, but this person was under the impression that a prophetic word should be for everyone. Wouldn't that be cool, if everyone got to benefit from the things of God, whether they had any interest in god or religion? A socialistic form of God, where no one has to do anything other than be present to receive their entitlement? Nope, that's not how the Kingdom of God operates, at least not the authentic Kingdom of God. It was only one of a couple of times, I've found myself trying to explain what a prophetic word is, who its for, and why. It's difficult enough just to try and explain it to the majority of Christians and religious people I've encountered, but a whole different level of challenge to explain it to anyone who has zero reference point with the historical nature of God, Christianity and Judaism.
At one point they became argumentative and I was already frustrated with the friends who were trying to invade my boundaries and the money YouTube took. They wanted me to defend what I had prophesied without even having a reference point for the prophetic, without it being applicable to them, with them being disqualified for lacking a relationship with Jesus Christ. I didn't make the rules, I just learned the rules. I thought I made it pretty clear who the prophetic word was intended for in the video, but I suppose in the future since Islam in the Quran recognizes Jesus as a lower prophet than Mohammed, and not as the only messiah and son of God, perhaps I need to provide more reference in the future; Nah. I told him I'd have to block him from the comments if he continued in an antagonistic manner. He eventually chilled out.
Assuming they may be seriously inquiring. I pointed them to two books that I found the most helpful when I was being mentored and trained in the prophetic. Both books by Dr. Bill Hamon. Both available on Amazon, but you could probably find them on eBay for less.
Pitfalls and Principals [Not an affiliate link]
I have the original red binder version, it's since been revised a few times. I haven't seen or read this revised version before.
Prophets and Personal Prophecy [Not an affiliate link]
[I do not make any money referring these books. Amazon generally has a better format, more details and information than things sold on other online marketplaces.]
These two books explain the different kinds of ways God speaks, how to know its God speaking, general biblical principles of the prophetic and discerning what someone is saying to you is from God. I can't think of any other books that I personally found more informative, insightful, and sometimes a bit frustrating during my training.
Moving on
2020 was an challenging year, but over and over again I saw God's provision. 2021 started off slow and from a more observational perspective. I found myself asking and questioning up until the last four months of this year, "Did I hear right". Its no wonder, the enemy sent those people on to YouTube to ask the same thing, to challenge it. I already knew I heard correctly, I have no desire to stand out, ask for donations, or have people flocking to me as some great prophetic guy. I prefer remaining low key, on the down low. YouTube is to large of a public platform for me to want to say anything prophetic, if I thought it might wrong.
God speaks in different ways, God is creative.
Acknowledging that God is a creative God, is the first step to learning to hear from God. For some reason, we've been taught or assumed that God is restricted to only being able to do what he did in the bible. That is the most Ludacris and disingenuous concept someone can present. Everything God has done since the dawn of earth, making man, creating woman out a rib, Noah's flood, the plagues on Egypt, feeding Elijah in the desert via ravens was a creative first, not to be repeated.
Long story short
I've been highly surprised at how 2021 is ending so far. I've observed a sudden acceleration in God going beyond what could be considered "normal", in meeting the needs of the saints. I've watched the businesses of those who love the Lord, begin to rebound after being forced out of business, finances increase, the countenance on peoples faces soften and I hear excitement and joy coming out of peoples mouths as they speak, even though they do not realize it.
It's raining outside, it doesn't rain much here. I just came back from taking a break and going to the kitchen only to realize that I've been writing now for hours and it's amazingly 5:20 AM. I am shocked, how did I get so caught up writing and rambling on my blog?
Its because my spirit is excited. My spirit is excited after three years of numbness, of grief watching politicians use race to divide and segregate our country in order to help maintain their position in power.
Fortunately, God is very much surrounding his bride right now. He is surrounding you. If you managed to somehow read all they way through all of this with all falling asleep, or becoming frustrated, then this final 2021 word is for you if you belong to Jesus Christ.
"God is surrounding you, He is encompassing your presence, He is for you. With you."
As Jeremiah 29:11-14 say's, "I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
I wrote out the full text of Jeremiah 29:11 in context since you have probably never seen it this way. Usually only 11 is read in churches or told to us as a promise. In context, this verse was given as a prophetic promise to those in exile in Babylon.
At the end of 2021, in the prophetic usage I am using it for, the whole verse is meaningful.
10. I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
This place in 2021, is whatever place you've been removed from.
11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
You've heard that part before. Gods not done yet, so don't give up.
12. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
God desires your worship, your conversation, he's listening. Talk to Him.
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
You have to seek God with all of your heart. What does that really mean. It refers to your intention. Is your intention to show up to a religious service on Sunday and have a pastor tell you what God is saying, hoping they get it right? Is your intention to engage in the world however you want and have God as your end of life back up plan? God is looking at your heart; what is in your heart? Is God just a religious activity because you feel obligated? I can not answer those questions for you, only you can.
The greatest freedom in my life was when I lost my religion and found Jesus.
Religious activities, events, meetings never brought me into a closer relationship with God, they just wasted the only free time I had available to set aside that I could have used to get alone and seek him.
Did you hear that? I spent most of my life so far, running from meeting to meeting, showing up at events, being involved in church and religious activities with other Christians, and that was very helpful for my social skills, but horrible for my spiritual relationship skills.
If you are not seeking a relationship with God, why would you expect God to be relational with you, talk to you, engage with you?
14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
I am not a Jewish Exile in Babylon. I am guessing you are not either. But all of us either are, or have been in some kind of captivity. Slavery and bondage to sin. When you seek God with all your heart, you will find him. He says, "I will be found by you". That is the key of verse 14. God can bring you back from captivity, whatever you are captive to.
The more free you are from whatever holds you captive, the closer you can get to God. The closer you get to God, the better you know him. The more you know him, the better you understand him. The better you understand him, the more you know what he desires. The more you know what he desires, the easier it is to have relationship with God. The more your relationship grows with God, the closer you become to God. The closer you become to God, the more God desires to talk to you and share with you the intimate wonders of His heart, about your future, your present, your purpose.